<p>For those students/parents considering St. Andrew's School (DE), the following post may be helpful. My son graduated from SAS last year and did not have a good experience there. When he was accepted and trying to decide whether to attend, I called the parent of a student currently attending for his opinion of the school. He told me that St. Andrew's was the "anti-Hotchkiss" and no words were truer spoken. If your child is someone that you feel would be happy attending a Deerfield or a Hotchkiss where there are a large number of socially well-adjusted, "mainstream" kids, do not send them to SAS. Tad Roach, the Headmaster, is fond of using the term "counter cultural" and his playbooks include the New York Times, the New Yorker and the New Republic (all of which share similar cultural sensibilities). As such, SAS is looking for "counter cultural" kids and they will truly thrive there. Quirky, intellectual, artistic, socially unsophisticated types will love SAS. On the other hand (from our experience), socially sophisticated, athletic,"mainstream" kids will be miserable there. The latter will have a limited group of likeminded friends and will be treated, for the most part, disdainfully by the faculty and the administration ( the administrators, however, will aggressively solicit and happily cash development checks from these students' families) for their perceived or assumed "bourgeois" tendencies. As a result, my son and his small group of friends spent four mostly unhappy years there. We suggested that he come home or transfer but he decided to stick it out and did manage to survive and do well academically and athletically. He is now very happy at a larger more socially diverse, top tier university. On the plus side, I do believe that he received a first class education at SAS. Additionally, he did not spend his weekends "partying" like they do at many other boarding schools (I am told) as SAS is very strict and has zero tolerance for drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc. In sum, be very careful as to the type of person your son/daughter is so that you avoid a potentially very significant cultural mismatch here. </p>
<p>wesray1: As one of the current, relatively active SAS parents here (whose kid fits your description of the sort that “thrives” at SAS), I truly appreciate you sharing your POV. If you don’t mind, I’m going to cut and paste into the main SAS thread so that it doesn’t get lost over the years. I’ll respond in more detail on that thread.</p>
<p>The funny thing is, I can imagine a SAS kid getting through it at a Deerfield, but not the other way.</p>
<p>I probably would have fit in better at SAS based on OP’s descriptions, but at the same time, after these past two years I really can’t imagine being anywhere else than Lawrenceville.</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more with Westray1 and had a very similar experience at SAS with my son as well. What saddens me is that SAS is turning into a school that fosters an extremely liberal community. While I believe in being inclusive and affording the opportunity for gay and lesbians to come out and feel comfortable, it has gotten to a point that it has made it rather uncomfortable for heterosexuals. The “activities that took place” this spring in the Shmolze single “on dorm” were incredibly disturbing and upsetting. St. Andrew’s wants to be that diverse, inclusive and non-judgmental school but I think things have gone too far afield. You have to understand St. Andrew"s is so small that anything that happens becomes front and center. If your child views a “rager” as a poetry reading then this is definitely the place for him/her. I am so glad that my son has graduated and has moved on to thrive at a larger mainstream college. </p>
<p>I’ve heard much the same thing. Having grown up in a place just as conservative as the rural Delmarva area, I think there’s often a “backlash” effect that occurs among many who don’t share the same POV. You won’t find liberals any more liberal than they get in the deep South, and I suspect a similar dynamic is taking place at SAS. FWIW, when we toured we were also struck by the eclectic mix of students. I can see that as a positive for some, but not so much for others.</p>
<p>I would certainly agree that SAS is not necessarily for the classic jock. For the intellectual? Yes.</p>